National University of La Plata

About: National University of La Plata is a education organization based out in La Plata, Argentina. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Large Hadron Collider. The organization has 12993 authors who have published 30013 publications receiving 495118 citations. The organization is also known as: UNLP & Universidad Nacional de La Plata.

Revisiting the axion bounds from the Galactic white dwarf luminosity function

Abstract: It has been shown that the shape of the luminosity function of white dwarfs (WDLF) is a powerful tool to check for the possible existence of DFSZ-axions, a proposed but not yet detected type of weakly interacting particles. With the aim of deriving new constraints on the axion mass, we compute in this paper new theoretical WDLFs on the basis of WD evolving models that incorporate the feedback of axions on the thermal structure of the white dwarf. We find that the impact of the axion emission into the neutrino emission can not be neglected at high luminosities M Bol 8) and that the axion emission needs to be incorporated self-consistently into the evolution of the white dwarfs when dealing with axion masses larger than ma cos 2β 5 meV (i.e. axion-electron coupling constant gae 1.4× 10-13). We went beyond previous works by including 5 different derivations of the WDLF in our analysis. Then we have performed χ2-tests to have a quantitative measure of the agreement between the theoretical WDLFs — computed under the assumptions of different axion masses and normalization methods --- and the observed WDLFs of the Galactic disk. While all the WDLF studied in this work disfavour axion masses in the range suggested by asteroseismology ma cos 2β 10 meV; gae 2.8× 10-13) lower axion masses can not be discarded from our current knowledge of the WDLF of the Galactic Disk. A larger set of completely independent derivations of the WDLF of the galactic disk as well as a detailed study of the uncertainties of the theoretical WDLFs is needed before quantitative constraints on the axion-electron coupling constant can be made.

Role of Motility and Chemotaxis in Efficiency of Nodulation by Rhizobium meliloti.

Abstract: Spontaneous mutants of Rhizobium meliloti L5-30 defective in motility or chemotaxis were isolated and compared against the parent with respect to symbiotic competence. Each of the mutants was able to generate normal nodules on the host plant alfalfa (Medicago sativa), but had slightly delayed nodule formation, diminished nodulation in the initially susceptible region of the host root, and relatively low representation in nodules following co-inoculation with equal numbers of the parent. When inoculated in growth pouches with increasing dosages of the parental strain, the number of nodules formed in the initially susceptible region of the root increased sigmoidally, with an optimum concentration of about 105 to 106 bacteria/plant. The dose-response behavior of the nonmotile and nonchemotactic mutants was similar, but they required 10- to 30-fold higher concentrations of bacteria to generate the same number of nodules. The distribution frequencies of nodules at different positions along the primary root were very similar for the mutants and parent, indicating that reduced nodulation by the mutants in dose-response experiments probably reflects reduced efficiency of nodule initiation rather than developmentally delayed nodule initiation. The number of bacteria that firmly adsorbed to the host root surface during several hours of incubation was 5- to 20-fold greater for the parent than the mutants. The mutants were also somewhat less effective than their parent as competitors in root adsorption assays. It appears that motility and chemotaxis are quantitatively important traits that facilitate the initial contact and adsorption of symbiotic rhizobia to the host root surface, increase the efficiency of nodule initiation, and increase the rate of infection development.

Search for high-mass diphoton resonances in pp collisions at √s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Abstract: Search for high-mass diphoton resonances in pp collisions at pffisffi root s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector